Thesis (Ed.D.)--University of Wyoming, 2009. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on Apr. 16, 2010). Includes bibliographical references (p. 120-125).

Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements of the Degree of Master of Technology: Quality, Durban University of Technology, 2011. / Football boot manufacturers can have an advantage over their competitors if they gain knowledge about the purchase decision-making process of their consumers. It is significant that marketers understand the important criteria of a consumer’s purchase decision. This study aimed to investigate consumer behaviour in the football boot industry, to support football boot manufacturers with information of the purchasing behaviour of their consumers in order to establish product development and novel marketing strategies. The objective of the study was to identify expectations of survey respondents in terms of the factors which influence their purchasing behaviour of football boots in the federal state of Bavaria in Germany. In order to accomplish the objectives of the study, a quantitative study was conducted by means of self-administered questionnaires. A sample of 400 questionnaires was administered. The respondents were purposively selected. Conclusions and recommendations were thereafter drawn from the literature and the findings of the study. The results showed that quality and brand names were the major influential factors in the purchase decision. Adidas was the most popular brand, followed by Nike and Puma. Citing satisfaction with their purchases, consumers were brand loyal and repeated purchases occurred. The research recommended that football boot manufacturers need to invest constantly in its development and quality management program in order to meet consumers’ expectations and international standards.

Thesis (MPhil (Physiological Sciences))--University of Stellenbosch, 2006. / Background. Creatine monohydrate is widely used for its purported ergogenic and anabolic properties. The mechanism by which creatine supplementation enhances muscle growth is not understood. This study was undertaken to determine whether creatine monohydrate supplementation increases the conversion rate of testosterone to dihydrotestosterone. An increase in dihydrotestosterone could partly explain the beneficial effect of creatine monohydrate on muscle hypertrophy. Methods. Subcommittee C of the research committee of the University of Stellenbosch approved the study. Project number 2001/ C045. The study was designed as a double blind crossover with subjects (n = 20) in each leg of the study. Group 1 (n = 10) taking creatine monohydrate and group 2 (n = 10) glucose during the first leg of the study. In accordance with crossover study design the groups were reversed in the second leg of the study. Gelatin capsules were filled with 5g of either creatine monohydrate or 5g of glucose. Subjects taking creatine monohydrate also took 25g of glucose to improve absorption of creatine. Subjects took creatine monohydrate 25g plus 25g of glucose (ten capsules in all) or glucose ten capsules per day for seven days in the loading phase. In the maintenance phase they took 5g of creatine monohydrate plus 25g of glucose (six capsules in all) per day or six capsules of glucose, for 14 days. The groups were reversed after a six-week washout period and the dosages repeated as per crossover study design. Blood samples were taken on day zero of the study as baseline measurements, repeated on day 7, (after the loading phase), and again on day 21, (after the maintenance phase). These were again repeated in the second leg of the study as per crossover design. Serum was separated within one hour of collection and stored at minus 70 oC. Testosterone and dihydrotestosterone concentrations were determined using a radio-immunoassay kit by an accredited university laboratory. The percentage conversion of testosterone to dihydrotestosterone was calculated. The results were statistically analyzed: A paired t - tests at the beginning of each leg of the study and repeated measure analysis of variance, for the pooled data for each condition over the whole study. Results. The difference in blood levels of testosterone and dihydrotestosterone on both days 0, were not statistically significant. This made the pooling of the data possible. The difference in the percentage conversion of testosterone to dihydrotestosterone over the study period between the creatine monohydrate condition and the glucose condition, was however significant (p < 0.0001). In this small study highly significant statistical results were obtained. The answer to how creatine taken as a supplement exerts its effect may lie in the increased rate of conversion of testosterone to dihydrotestosterone. Conclusion. With the known greater androgenic effect of dihydrotestosterone as opposed to testosterone, the increase in testosterone conversion to dihydrotestosterone could explain how creatine supplementation exerts its anabolic effect in susceptible individuals. A larger study should be done to confirm these results and answer the questions arising from the findings.

This thesis aimed to enhance understanding of the nature of knowledge bases possessed by elite sports performers which underpin perceptual-cognitive and decision making skills. Two main theories were considered; Active Control of Thought (ACT*) and Representational Redescription (RR). The purpose of Study 1 was to examine the anticipatory ability of elite and non-elite players in football and hockey. The results indicated that elite players in both sports were quicker and more accurate in their expectation of pass destination. Study 2 aimed to understand the extent to which knowledge is transferable. The results indicated that elite players’ knowledge is relatively domain specific although some elements of underlying task strategy may transfer. The objective of Study 3 was to explore the means by which elite and non-elite players in football and hockey identify and differentiate between possible decisions. Results showed elite players’ rationale was based on deeper theoretical principles whilst non-experts utilised relatively superficial information and naïve theories. Study 4 focussed on problem representations of elite and non-elite football players. Results revealed elite players’ representations were more pertinent, connected and articulated in a more effective manner. Overall, the findings from the current thesis provide advanced understanding of the knowledge bases responsible for perceptual-cognitive and decision making skill, and such understanding may assist attempts to enhance athletes’ performance and support future research.

The purpose of this study was to determine if isokinetic testing could be used as an effective means of assessing a players potential to play a certain position. The subjects were twenty four male division IA college football players. The Cybex 340 isokinetic testing device, twenty and forty yard dash, and standing broad jump were used to collect data. An analysis of variance test with repeated measures was used for the statistical analysis (ANOVA). Based on the findings of this study, no significant difference was found between offensive and defensive lineman, through isokinetic testing. However, a significant difference was found between the groups in the twenty and forty yard dash, and in the standing broad jump. Significant differences in these areas may have been attributed to a significant difference in body weight between the two groups tested. / School of Physical Education

George Taliaferro was a trailblazer. He was the first black quarterback in professional football, the first black quarterback in the National Football League (NFL), and the first black man to be drafted by an NFL team.Taliaferro's story of perseverance revealed the slow and difficult process of integration in high school, at Indiana University, and in his professional football career. The obstacles he faced and the lessons he learned were representative of issues related to the integration of the NFL.A combination of personal narrative and historical investigation was used in this creative project. In addition to Taliaferro's first-hand accounts, depth and perspective were added through interviews and reportage.The biography that resulted, the story of Taliaferro's resolve, became a vehicle for telling a larger story, the integration of the NFL. / Department of Journalism

Previous research has examined factors that predispose collegiate football players to injury (e.g., Petrie, 1993a, 1993b) as well as factors that influence athletes' psychological adjustment to being injured (e.g., Brewer, 1993; Leddy, Lambert, & Ogles, 1994). Despite the reports of the NCAA Injury Surveillance System that the greatest number of football injuries occur during the spring preseason (NCAA, 1997), studies have only examined injury during the regular season. Thus, the purpose of this study was to investigate the antecedents and consequences of injury in collegiate football players during the spring preseason and across the regular competitive season. Specifically, life stress, social support, competitive trait anxiety, athletic identity, coping style, and preinjury mood state was measured to determine their relationship with the occurrence of injury and with postinjury emotional responses in athletes who sustain an injury at some point during either the spring preseason or regular competitive football season. The overall incidence of athletic injuries was low and the athletes suffered more severe injuries than has been typically found in collegiate football samples. Negative life stress was found to be directly related to the occurrence of injury and to postinjury negative emotional response and was moderated by other psychosocial variables in its influence on the occurrence of injury. Positive life stress was unrelated to injury risk or postinjury emotional response. Social support, sport anxiety, coping, and athletic identity were all found to moderate the negative life stress-injury relationship, as did playing status, suggesting that the complex combinations of these variables increase athletes' susceptibility to the impact of negative life stress. The athletes in this study experienced significant negative emotions following injury. After sustaining injuries they experienced levels of anger, depression, and fatigue that were similar to male psychiatric patients. Injury severity and preinjury mood were found to be the best predictors of postinjury emotional response. Of the psychosocial variables, only social support and sport anxiety were found to be predictive of negative emotional responses following injury. Previously identified relationships between postinjury emotional responses and situational and dispositional variables were replicated and extended.

The purpose of this study is to identify which characteristics of student-athletes are most helpful in making administrative decisions about intercollegiate athletic programs, and then to develop a descriptive profile of a group of student-athletes at a particular university. Additional purposes include comparing these descriptive data with other group data and with perceptions of the same group of student-athletes by faculty administrators at the same university. Data were collected in four phases. First, a jury of three experts developed a list of student-athlete characteristics they believed to be helpful in making administrative decisions regarding those athletes. Next, information was gathered to develop a descriptive profile of a selected group of eighteen student-athletes based on the identified characteristics. Next, statistical comparisons were made with available data from other groups of students and from the eight Athletic Council members' perceptions of the study group. Major findings include the identification of useful characteristics, inconsistencies between student-athlete high school ranks in class and SAT scores, high scores in hostility, and accurate perceptions of student-athletes by Athletic Council members.

Esta pesquisa propõe um estudo sobre o fenômeno do racismo e da xenofobia na Europa através de levantamento bibliográfico, fontes diversas e, principalmente, histórias orais de vida de alguns futebolistas brasileiros negros que atuaram no continente europeu a partir da década de 1960. O conjunto de procedimentos adotados é o da história oral, mais especificamente aquele praticado pelo Núcleo de Estudos em História Oral da Universidade de São Paulo. Constituí documentos inéditos, em cujos textos estão expressas as experiências e as memórias da comunidade de destino. O objetivo geral da pesquisa foi relacionar o problema da negritude no futebol em vista de um contexto social mais amplo, o qual tem como pano de fundo a globalização e as migrações internacionais. A tese está dividida em três partes. Na primeira, intitulada de História do projeto, introduzo a pesquisa, apresento os conceitos fundamentais, coloco o tema em perspectiva histórica, justifico a escolha pela história oral, exponho os procedimentos adotados e relato as minhas experiências de entrevista com personalidades futebolísticas. Na segunda, Histórias orais de vida, apresento cinco histórias de vida que abrangem as décadas de 1980 a 2000 e narram as experiências vividas pelos futebolistas nas principais ligas europeias e na vida social nos respectivos países. Na terceira e última parte, Memória coletiva seleciono temas recorrentes nas narrativas, os quais dizem respeito à própria trajetória de vida e profissional, ao movimento migratório e, por fim, ao racismo e à xenofobia. Há um jeito brasileiro de lidar com a questão? Esta é a pergunta que procuro responder nas considerações finais. / This research is a study of racism and xenophobia in the European society through literature review, various sources and, primarily, oral life stories from some black Brazilian footballers that played in the European continent from the 1960s onwards. The methodology used is oral history, more specificaly that which is practiced by the Centre for Studies in Oral History of the University of São Paulo (Núcleo de Estudos em História Oral da Universidade de São Paulo). I have composed unpublished documents in which experiences and memoirs of the destiny community are expressed. The researchs overall objective was to discuss the black footballers issue within a broader social context, having globalisation and international migration as background. The thesis consists of three parts. In the first one, entitled The projects history, I introduce the research, present the core concepts, put the theme in historical perspective, justify my choice for using oral history, explain the methodology and report on my experiences interviewing football personalities. In the second, Oral life stories, I present five life stories spanning from the 1980s to the 2000s and narrate the footballers experiences in the main European leagues and their social lives in their respective countries. In the third and last part, Collective memory, I pick up recurring themes in those narratives, which relate to the footballer\'s life and career, migration, racism and xenophobia. Is there a Brazilian way to deal with the issue? This is the question I try to answer in the final considerations.

Esta pesquisa propõe um estudo sobre o fenômeno do racismo e da xenofobia na Europa através de levantamento bibliográfico, fontes diversas e, principalmente, histórias orais de vida de alguns futebolistas brasileiros negros que atuaram no continente europeu a partir da década de 1960. O conjunto de procedimentos adotados é o da história oral, mais especificamente aquele praticado pelo Núcleo de Estudos em História Oral da Universidade de São Paulo. Constituí documentos inéditos, em cujos textos estão expressas as experiências e as memórias da comunidade de destino. O objetivo geral da pesquisa foi relacionar o problema da negritude no futebol em vista de um contexto social mais amplo, o qual tem como pano de fundo a globalização e as migrações internacionais. A tese está dividida em três partes. Na primeira, intitulada de História do projeto, introduzo a pesquisa, apresento os conceitos fundamentais, coloco o tema em perspectiva histórica, justifico a escolha pela história oral, exponho os procedimentos adotados e relato as minhas experiências de entrevista com personalidades futebolísticas. Na segunda, Histórias orais de vida, apresento cinco histórias de vida que abrangem as décadas de 1980 a 2000 e narram as experiências vividas pelos futebolistas nas principais ligas europeias e na vida social nos respectivos países. Na terceira e última parte, Memória coletiva seleciono temas recorrentes nas narrativas, os quais dizem respeito à própria trajetória de vida e profissional, ao movimento migratório e, por fim, ao racismo e à xenofobia. Há um jeito brasileiro de lidar com a questão? Esta é a pergunta que procuro responder nas considerações finais. / This research is a study of racism and xenophobia in the European society through literature review, various sources and, primarily, oral life stories from some black Brazilian footballers that played in the European continent from the 1960s onwards. The methodology used is oral history, more specificaly that which is practiced by the Centre for Studies in Oral History of the University of São Paulo (Núcleo de Estudos em História Oral da Universidade de São Paulo). I have composed unpublished documents in which experiences and memoirs of the destiny community are expressed. The researchs overall objective was to discuss the black footballers issue within a broader social context, having globalisation and international migration as background. The thesis consists of three parts. In the first one, entitled The projects history, I introduce the research, present the core concepts, put the theme in historical perspective, justify my choice for using oral history, explain the methodology and report on my experiences interviewing football personalities. In the second, Oral life stories, I present five life stories spanning from the 1980s to the 2000s and narrate the footballers experiences in the main European leagues and their social lives in their respective countries. In the third and last part, Collective memory, I pick up recurring themes in those narratives, which relate to the footballer\'s life and career, migration, racism and xenophobia. Is there a Brazilian way to deal with the issue? This is the question I try to answer in the final considerations.